How does this help in speed and fuel efficiency?  A: The prolific accumulation or marine scale in the hull of a ship is equivalent to a greater drag or friction with the water, which, in turn, implies a detrimental impact on the hydrodynamic performance of a ship and a considerable increase in the fuel consumption. In the same way, the relationship between speed and power output is negatively affected. In severe cases, a large prolific accumulation of shells or hard incrustations on the hull can generate turbulence and cavitation.

Seven Seas C.A., to guarantee a complete cleaning, divides the process into 4 zones that must be covered in the operation: lateral and flat bottom; rudder and stern arch; propeller and marine chests or grids. This procedure is carried out with a group of no less than 10 divers, distributed in a precise manner; generally there are 3 divers for starboard, 3 divers for port and 4 divers for flat bottom.

The process we use in Seven Seas C.A., to carry out this operation includes:

Sides and Flat Bottom

This corresponds to the largest area of ​​the vessel, and to minimize the cleaning time, the use of a helmet cleaning machine with 2 twin brushes is used. While, for those areas difficult to reach with the machine of double brushes a machine of individual and smaller brushes is used.

Rudder and Bow of Popa

For this area as well as lateral and flat bottoms, a machine with twin brushes is used for large areas, and for areas of difficult access a brush machine.

Propeller

To remove the remains of the seabed and polish the propeller, a high-speed polishing system is used, designed for multi-stage polishing discs. The polishing process is simple and includes the polishing of the blades, polishing of the roots of the blade, cleaning and polishing of the protuberance of the propeller and the cone; It can be described in 3 stages:

I.- Polishing with a coarse-grained abrasive to remove the incrustations of algae, weeds and shells.

II.- It is subjected to a second polishing process with a very fine abrasive, in order to eliminate erosions and dents. In this stage it is polished carefully until reaching 2 microns of C.L.A.

III.- In this stage, depending on the condition of the propeller, a third polishing using a special pad is used to achieve a C.L.A. about 1 micron.

It is important to note that the values ​​achieved in this process are referenced to the Rupert Scale and the roughness values ​​of the ISO484 standard.

Chests or Marine Grids

For the grilling area stainless steel spatulas are used to scrape the remains of seabed or shells in them, thus improving the free flow of water in the ship’s cooling system.